Kai-Fu Lee the president of Google China gave a presentation in Seattle about future of Google. The video can be watched here(53 min). It gave some wonderful insights in the working of Google and how it is expanding in China.
The Oppurtunities in China seem endless for Google. China's Internet population is growing at 25%. They have more Broadband coverage than in US, MORE MOBILE USERS THAN INTERNET users. Engineering graduates in China Outnumber US by 8 to 1. No wonder everyone wants a piece of it. The challenges in China are unique as well. The Younger population seeks more fun than knowledge on the internet. They like entertainment, MP3 and games. Lack of an established credit system makes it harder to do business online. People want to meet and have fun online but not give money online. Strict goverment regulatory policies. Aggresive Competitors. Its a scary land for business. Eric Schmidt said, "We will take a long-term view to win China. The Chinese have 5000 years of hostory.Google has 5000 years of patience in China". Well best of luck !!! :) 7006
The Google Plan
According to Kai-Fu 2006 was the year to build foundation and establish Google presence, comply with local laws,come up with Google.cn, Spread the Google word in Universities, establish partnership and recruit a world class team. And 2007 will be THE YEAR when Google will be the topmost search engine in China. A pretty bold claim by Kai-Fu
How did Google Build a Great Local Team(The six goo-gredients)
1. Hire Great People(Beijing, Taipei, Shanghai locations) - They had 100 hires in 2006 and are currently the #1 employer in China for CS graduates. They Hired ACM Champion, and Champion of Code Jam. They in general hire #1 student from every University
2. Focus on Strengths - Google has a great brand and fan following. One student started www.googlehireme.com for Google to hire him. Other popular communities in China campuses are FROG(Friends of Google),www.gfan.org. Below Kai-Fu is addessing a crowd of 3000 people and the new Google building beside the Beijing University campus is displayed.
3. Uncover PR oppurtunities - Kai-Fu has written a book which has sold 700,000 copies. He is a very popular guy in China. Google even held a CodeJam contest to create awareness and promote themselves and then hired the winner.
4. Focus on Google Values - They set special orientation to show values of Google.
5. Localize Jobs - English language skills are not necessary for new hires. They should have good skills. Mentorship programs have been created and 6-8 months of training is provided. Every thing is being build for long term
6. Make it fun - Regular team building Activities and Office Decoration, New Building in Beijing near the University. Entertainment has Karoake Room(great example of localization), FoozeBall, Dance Dance Revolution(great example of localization)
As part of ongoing initiative, on the right Marissa Myer talking to Beijing University Students.
R&D Centres and Innovation
Google has opened 30 R&D Centers in 3 Years(Wow!!!) which span across Europe, Russia, Eatern Europe, Israel, US, Canada, Australia, India, Japan and China
How does Google do it?
Avoid Redundancy - Keeping in touch with the intranet. All projects, milestones and progress are kept in the PDB(Product Database). Before you do anything, you search if someone elese is not doing it. If they are then you can maybe do it together.
Reasonable Work Distribution - Each R&D drives a major project. Collaboration is encouraged, a project is divided between two R&D(each responsible for a component of the project instead of each doing parts of the same component)
Communication - This is key. Every Conference Room has Video tele-conferencing units, lot of executive travel, mailing lists, meetings and gatherings are scheduled.
Clear Top-Down Directions - "Organize the World's Information", that is the primarry message to be kept in mind when approaching any project. There is also a Rule of 70:20:10 to focus employee time. (70% Search and Ads, 20% Related to Search,10% Brand New Search)
Google's Innovation Model: Hire people who are innovative and get stuff done. People who come up with ideas and have strong engineering skills at the same time. Management's job is to merely recruit those kind of people(innovator+engineer=Googler).
Google Product Life Cycle is like this:
Employee Idea->Internal Democratic Voting System ->If enough support people get together and build a prototype(usng their 20% time)->Release for internal use(if success)->Google Labs(if success)->Beta->Release.
This was a look into the Search Giant and how it operates and innovates. This research was motivated by a book called Google Cash which is now out with a 3rd edition and talks about using Google's mighty power to your benefit. One thing i like about this is it is not a get rich quick book. You have to still use your brain and come up with a niche but it has some neat strategies.
Anyways hope you have a better understanding of the force and domination of Google.
The Oppurtunities in China seem endless for Google. China's Internet population is growing at 25%. They have more Broadband coverage than in US, MORE MOBILE USERS THAN INTERNET users. Engineering graduates in China Outnumber US by 8 to 1. No wonder everyone wants a piece of it. The challenges in China are unique as well. The Younger population seeks more fun than knowledge on the internet. They like entertainment, MP3 and games. Lack of an established credit system makes it harder to do business online. People want to meet and have fun online but not give money online. Strict goverment regulatory policies. Aggresive Competitors. Its a scary land for business. Eric Schmidt said, "We will take a long-term view to win China. The Chinese have 5000 years of hostory.Google has 5000 years of patience in China". Well best of luck !!! :) 7006
The Google Plan
According to Kai-Fu 2006 was the year to build foundation and establish Google presence, comply with local laws,come up with Google.cn, Spread the Google word in Universities, establish partnership and recruit a world class team. And 2007 will be THE YEAR when Google will be the topmost search engine in China. A pretty bold claim by Kai-Fu
How did Google Build a Great Local Team(The six goo-gredients)
1. Hire Great People(Beijing, Taipei, Shanghai locations) - They had 100 hires in 2006 and are currently the #1 employer in China for CS graduates. They Hired ACM Champion, and Champion of Code Jam. They in general hire #1 student from every University
2. Focus on Strengths - Google has a great brand and fan following. One student started www.googlehireme.com for Google to hire him. Other popular communities in China campuses are FROG(Friends of Google),www.gfan.org. Below Kai-Fu is addessing a crowd of 3000 people and the new Google building beside the Beijing University campus is displayed.
3. Uncover PR oppurtunities - Kai-Fu has written a book which has sold 700,000 copies. He is a very popular guy in China. Google even held a CodeJam contest to create awareness and promote themselves and then hired the winner.
4. Focus on Google Values - They set special orientation to show values of Google.5. Localize Jobs - English language skills are not necessary for new hires. They should have good skills. Mentorship programs have been created and 6-8 months of training is provided. Every thing is being build for long term
6. Make it fun - Regular team building Activities and Office Decoration, New Building in Beijing near the University. Entertainment has Karoake Room(great example of localization), FoozeBall, Dance Dance Revolution(great example of localization)
As part of ongoing initiative, on the right Marissa Myer talking to Beijing University Students.R&D Centres and Innovation
Google has opened 30 R&D Centers in 3 Years(Wow!!!) which span across Europe, Russia, Eatern Europe, Israel, US, Canada, Australia, India, Japan and China
How does Google do it?
Avoid Redundancy - Keeping in touch with the intranet. All projects, milestones and progress are kept in the PDB(Product Database). Before you do anything, you search if someone elese is not doing it. If they are then you can maybe do it together.
Reasonable Work Distribution - Each R&D drives a major project. Collaboration is encouraged, a project is divided between two R&D(each responsible for a component of the project instead of each doing parts of the same component)
Communication - This is key. Every Conference Room has Video tele-conferencing units, lot of executive travel, mailing lists, meetings and gatherings are scheduled.
Clear Top-Down Directions - "Organize the World's Information", that is the primarry message to be kept in mind when approaching any project. There is also a Rule of 70:20:10 to focus employee time. (70% Search and Ads, 20% Related to Search,10% Brand New Search)
Google's Innovation Model: Hire people who are innovative and get stuff done. People who come up with ideas and have strong engineering skills at the same time. Management's job is to merely recruit those kind of people(innovator+engineer=Googler).
Google Product Life Cycle is like this:
Employee Idea->Internal Democratic Voting System ->If enough support people get together and build a prototype(usng their 20% time)->Release for internal use(if success)->Google Labs(if success)->Beta->Release.
This was a look into the Search Giant and how it operates and innovates. This research was motivated by a book called Google Cash which is now out with a 3rd edition and talks about using Google's mighty power to your benefit. One thing i like about this is it is not a get rich quick book. You have to still use your brain and come up with a niche but it has some neat strategies.
Anyways hope you have a better understanding of the force and domination of Google.
